Metavante Corporation today announced a reciprocal agreement with Yodlee, Inc. that infuses Metavante electronic bill payment with Yodlee’s proprietary credit and debit card payment functionality, and integrates Yodlee solutions with Metavante’s electronic bill payment processing capabilities. Metavante is the banking and payments technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI).
Benefits of the agreement include enabling end users of Metavante online bill pay to make payments with their credit and debit cards. At the same time, financial institutions offering Metavante bill pay will be able to turn what is most often provided as a free service into a revenue-generating opportunity. Financial institutions can now collect interchange fees on payments made through their online bill pay service when customers use a credit or debit card issued by the same financial institution. Additionally, the customer can earn points toward a rewards program, if one is associated with their card.
"Yodlee has the ability to make revenue-generating, card-based bill payments with over 200 of the top U.S. billers today and is expanding its network of available payees rapidly. Metavante is committed to strengthening its products through partnerships when they deliver competitive advantages to our clients," said Dave Fortney, senior vice president, Metavante electronic presentment and payment. "Financial institutions offering Metavante bill pay now receive the card option, revenue-generating opportunities and lower total cost of ownership. They can offer customer benefits, such as same-day and last-minute payments, which are typically associated with biller-direct payments. In addition, card-based bill pay functionality provides another chance to promote a payment card rewards program and end-user adoption of online bill pay. Maybe even more importantly, it can turn a financial institution's Web site into the preferred channel for all their customers' online payments."
By integrating Metavante bill pay processing, Yodlee strengthens its BillPay offering with enhanced biller connectivity when users choose to make a payment without a card. Metavante will be a preferred bill pay processor for ACH and check payments in these instances.
"The winners in this association are the combined customers of Metavante and Yodlee," said Anil Arora, Yodlee president and chief executive. "Both Metavante and Yodlee gain important functionality that enhances and advances their respective product offerings. Plus, stronger bill pay offerings from both companies give financial institutions additional revenue-generating features they can offer their customers, while at the same time delivering the benefits of card-based payments to end users, which nearly 50 percent of consumers said they wanted in a recent Aite Group survey 1."
According to another recent Aite Group report 2, new technologies and processing arrangements, such as the one between Metavante and Yodlee, may play a significant role in shaping the online bill payment landscape. In the same report, Aite Group also forecasts that, "By 2010, 45 percent of the overall bill payment industry's revenues will go to participants in the card processing value chain, up from 34 percent in 2006."